Island Foodways and Culture and My Life Plate

God was thinking the day He made the banana. To me, it’s the perfect fruit: no seed, peeling is easy, you don’t even need a knife, they’re sweet without being cloying and you can find them everywhere. You ever met anyone who objects to banana? […]

Canned goods have never played much of a place in my pantry since I began a love affair with “gourmet cooking,” in the ’70s. “Exotics,” yes — sardines, smoked oysters, Red Devil liver paste, water chestnuts until I discovered fresh ones in Seattle’s International District […]

When life gives you lemons, throw ’em at somebody. That’s kinda how I’m feeling right now. Or maybe, when life gives you lemons, let somebody else make you lemonade. And serve it to you. So cold it’s sweating. Preferably alongside the pool at a Four […]

I had a cleaning lady once who was a bit ADD. Well, a lot ADD. She alphabetized my spice cabinet. Then taped an inventory of the spices in my collection to the door of the cupboard. I loved that woman. Now I’m back to the […]

Hurray! No pictures agian, kala mai, but just to let you know that last night, Friday, a book I edited (and, believe me, the one-word title editor doesn’t cover it; cat herdeer would be much more accurate), won the cookbook diviion of the Hawaii Publishers […]

What has kept me from blogging? Busy, yes. Tired, yes, yes. Traveling, yes, yes. Not cooking as much as I usually do, definitely. I think I was writing so much for other media, I just…ran out. Nothing left. Pau ka hana (the work is finished), […]

Been gone a bit, but I have a good excuse: Working on the photography for my fourth cookbook. Long awaited, at least by me (and to my contributor, Kay Beppu, who allowed me the use of her family’s ozoni recipe in return for the promise […]

The next time Jimmy Buffett, my favorite of all time, comes to town, remind me to do a blog on the food in his songs. He talks a lot about food and drink and not just magaritas and hamburgers. I had a ball at Jimmy’s […]

A productive morning. My favorite kind: Doing something I want to do. After a rare sleep-in (9 a.m.!), I made sick husband an omelette and tackled a project that’s been nagging at me for a week. I had scored a huge bowl full of tangerines […]

Husband came down with a fluish cold this week. He must have been Portuguese in another life, because he’ll eat soup any day for any meal, in sickness and in health. But he especially craves it when he’s sick. So I reached back into the […]